Big new plans for Houston’s Memorial Park

Landscape architect Thomas Woltz, 45, is the owner and principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz, the firm that has been selected to create a long-range master plan for Memorial Park.

In both national and international projects — from the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., to a 3,000-acre sheep farm in New Zealand — the firm has earned a reputation for creating sustainable landscapes that walk the line between active use and preservation.

Woltz’s “proven experience in restoration ecology” got him the job in Houston, said Christopher Knapp, who led Memorial Park Conservancy’s committee to choose a design team for the park’s next chapter.

Woltz said he will approach the redesign of the 1,500-acre Memorial Park, the city’s largest urban-center park, the same way he approaches all his projects: by listening to the place and to the people who use it and manage it.

The photo gallery above shows images of the park and other landscape designs from Nelson Byrd Woltz, which has offices in New York City, San Francisco and Charlottesville, Va.

Just saw the pics.
Not much to look at.
Is this the best of his work?
If so, we just got hee-hawed for $100 million and that is just the initial cost.
Twenty years of cost over-runs. Ouch!
I wonder what the initial payment is to just listen and walk the trails for a couple of years. An jot down a few notes.

Sounds like a pipe dream to me. They say it will cost $100 million, but it’s $100 million they don’t have. If you want to see a successful project, look at the Buffalo Bayou Park Project, now underway, where $60 million is being spent on Buffalo Bayou, from downtown to Shepherd. That is a real project, with real funding. This one sounds more like a far-off wish.

We have plenty of Landscape Architectural firms in Houston Texas. Why would we go outside of the city to employ people for a Houston park. What company is doing the Engineering end of it? The lighting, power, plumbing, sprinkler and structural? Are we making sure that these jobs stay in Houston? If there are any more buildings or remodeling on existing buildings we will require HVAC engineers, designers and drafters. We must make sure that this MEP Engineering company is a Houston Company.
Are our Black and Mexican American leaders making sure that at least a percentage of these projects are being awarded to companies who employ traditional minorities such as these, as well as Professional women?
These issues should have been discussed before awarding such a large project outside of our city limits. Who was responsible for this decision?

If the Parks Department is in on it we better ask where they plan to build the inner Park Condos , for friends of the Mayor . Gus Wortham GC had Soccer usage envisioned before recent Botanical plans , so I do not trust their vision for Houston’s Park needs . Improving and protecting EXISISTING Parks like that historic 105 year old GC seems a low priority for them .

I would rather they left our Parks alone .
Their proposed ‘Improvements’ threaten them .

There are way too many trees in Memorial Park and it gets in the way of my commute to and from work. The city should extend 290 through Memorial Park to downtown. We’ll call it, the Memorial Freeway. It should have 10 lanes in each direction and light rail. Since there will be a new freeway, put it a new office park or two and of course, upscale “luxury” apartments so that people can live close by. Shopping centers and theatres would be nice too. All in all, the problem of trees dying during a drought would be eliminated.

I know Memorial Park has suffered under the drought, but I would rather see the city do something about the ball moss infestation of the gorgeous oaks up and down Main and Fannin near Hermann park. Save those trees and get that moss out!

How dare the city government continue with its plans for “developing” any park with solicitations from the public and scientists?? Right now as we speak lots of concrete is being poured on many of Houston’s parks. It smacks of political payoffs. From what I have seen it is doing nothing for the health of this public land which should be the first priority. Where are the mayoral candidates on this when we need them??

Speaking of things to affect Memorial Park: One is developing right now. Plans are afoot to go into the Park and dig up many trees along Buffalo Bayou! Whats first so sad about this is the utter disregard for being solicited and included into the plans of somebody to do this!!!! See the story in the Chron last Sunday regarding the proposed project!

Take a careful look at the photos. This guy is very, very good at what he does. This isn’t about planting a couple of palm ferns and putting in a koi pond: the intent here is to make Memorial Park a defining feature of the city, the way Central Park defines Manhattan, or Mont Royal defines Montreal.

This is very exciting news, and done right, will set a course for Houston for the next 150 years. It’s a lot of money, but it will be worth it.

$100 million? What a crock? Why didn’t the mayor, or the city council, or the park conservancy, spend some money on water to save the thousands of trees they allowed to die during the drought? The city government failed it’s two million citizens by failing to protect this park, our park. Instead, it failed to spend money on water to save the trees. But, when thousands died they spent millions to cut them down. Now we are left with thumb size plantings which will take two generations to mature. Is this the city’s $100 million cure for it’s colossal failure? well, it’s too much and too late.

“Allow” to die? Just as force-feeding a 90 year-old person won’t extend their life, force-watering a 90 year-old tree will not either. The majority of trees (with exception of the invasive species) in Memorial park were planted just after World War I and are at the end of their matural life cycle, anyway. For that matter, it is estimated that Memorial Park lost some 3,000 trees during the drought – mostly oaks and pines. Oak trees are considered “high demand” trees, consuming 50-100 gallons of water/day during our summers. Pines, on the other hand consume only 20. My rough math calculates c.143,000 gallons of water/day to water just the affected trees. But how to deliver the water? And what about complicating the already-chronic erosion problem throughout the park? Not saying your comment was stupid, but…

1544 acres – at least half of this space is a nature preserve – not usable by humans. The section fronting 610 should be opened for human use. I would put in football and soccer practice fields and the related facilities to support the development of these sports. Memorial Park needs to be opened up so that it can be used by people as opposed to a preserve for alligators and other pests.

What should Memorial Park be? It should be the huge beautiful urban wilderness it always was, with the strength and flexibility that only a native landscape can provide.

Lots and lots of trees. Open space is what the clearing of the coastal woodlands has created as the City of Houston. In contrast, the city now needs to preserve a large area of its native undisturbed forests, as a refuge for its citizens.

I remember the deep, mysterious woods from when I was a toddler in the 1930’s through the 1990’s, as a sanctuary and place of wonder that stretched for miles. The native insects, reptiles and small mammals, with the general absence of trails and people, allowed for a process of discovery not possible in a purposefully designed and landscaped urban park.

The Buffalo Bayou Partnership is trying to save small parcels of native woods wherever it can. But Memorial Park has the (renewed) potential for being one of the only large scale urban wildernesses in the world.